Cooking in the Van

skratt

Guest
Hello Van People,
Im writing a van cookbook.
I've been a chef for 30 years, working all over the world, mostly lucky enough to cook on private yachts , providing food for rather wealthy people who expected amazing cuisine to appear from my galley with limited space, ingredients and equipment.
I now live in a motorhome and have fulltimed for 5 years. The book was inspired by people who came for dinner on the van and couldn't believe how I did it.
But I need your help ........

I need to know ....

How many gas rings do you have ?
Is there a freezer on your van ?
Do you have access to electricity for blenders, food processors etc ?
How much storage do you have for ingredients, pots, pans etc ?
Would you like to shop most days or do you prefer to stock up ?
How important is healthy fresh food ?
Are your tastes traditional or are you open to new ideas ?

Your input will be most appreciated .

happy travels, Skratt :D
 
Small van cooking

Hi there,
Great idea,
We have vw camper...
2 gas rings,
no freezer,
little storage, so 3 saucepans-big, med and small,
we stock up on stuff like dried, flavoured couscous, risottos and rice, also those microwaveable flavoured rices that you can cook in a saucepan too.
now we're spending more time in the van eating healthy food is important.
We buy salads and veg every couple of days.
Definitely willing to try new stuff
The bad news is that we rarely eat meat!
Hope this helps
 
Debroos said:
Hi there,
Great idea,
We have vw camper...
2 gas rings,
no freezer,
little storage, so 3 saucepans-big, med and small,
we stock up on stuff like dried, flavoured couscous, risottos and rice, also those microwaveable flavoured rices that you can cook in a saucepan too.
now we're spending more time in the van eating healthy food is important.
We buy salads and veg every couple of days.
Definitely willing to try new stuff
The bad news is that we rarely eat meat!
Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I agree with most of this except that we have a slightly bigger van - Renault master conversion, a double skillet (hugely useful because you can use one bit on top of the other saving both space and gas), and we do like fresh meat and fish bought locally.
Other information:
Very rarely hooked up - to electricity.
Keep basic stock of dry foods including flour, rice, dried and tinned fruit, pasta, stock cubes etc

Willing to test recipes for you if you like!
Good luck.
 
not trying to dampen the book but there are a few out there .campervan cooking .. cooking on two rings.... caravan&m,home recipes. just to name a few.
i like using a pressure cooker. or a tajine. m ind a good old fashioned dimpled self basting enamel dish in an oven takes some beating.
best luck with the book.
as an ex army catering corp. will lookforward to reading it.
cheers alan.
 
I too use a pressure cooker, or should say did use. I lost the lid in Anglesey a few weeks ago. Cant seem to find another cooker the same size. being a lone camper most of the time and with limited space in the Bongo, I don't want one of those family size pressure cookers.
I try to eat simply. use fresh food wherever possible and take just basic essentials in the van. I use quite a bit of wild food and road kill at times, round here there is an abundance of road kill venison and as long as it hasn't been run over again it is OK to eat it several days after killing. Found a field, if that's the right word, of samphire on the shore last week. and I am not going to share the location:D But fungi are favorite as is wild garlic hawthorn leaves and wild sea cabbage, several sea weeds and of coarse shell fish. in the country there is nettles and fern tops, pheasants and partridge eggs. The list is endless but don't forget our old friend the rabbit.
The most useful stple has to be oat meal. for thickening stews etc., better than flour. or it can be eaten dry with fruit and nuts, made into scrumptious lumpy porridge and eaten with honey. or make a kind of camp bread with it bit like damper.
 
hi i use a 3litre butterfly elite pr.cooker but as they have gone now and new seals are expensive for it i bought a new swan 4litre bit big but will do.
i have really big ones here . the biggest is a mirror matic 16inch. holds 16qt. ideal for cooking lots chicken before chopping them up putting bread crumbs and flavouring on then frying the southern fried way.
think pressure cokers are underated. ideal for van cooking. specially if you have a grill for browning off roasts etc. and quick no steam .less gas used .
what size is your pr ck. let me know.
becarefull you can starve by eating rabbit. no good as a survival food. no goodness in them.
 
vwalan said:
becarefull you can starve by eating rabbit. no good as a survival food. no goodness in them.
Click to expand...
Yes but love rabbit stew with lovely potato dumplins.
My Pr Cr was a 3 litre with 2 small handles and no long handle. Had it about 30 years. I do like the American 2 and 3 litre ones but the postage is prohibitive. I am going to ask my Ex if she can get one on Base before I look around. although I do like the one on fleabay at 19,95. Yep I'm tight.
Just a thought. I must have had my old one a lot longer than I thought as I think I paid 18/6 for it. Those good old days? Remember there was a petrol pump at a service station in Diss which was the only one I had ever seen with pay at pump machine. You had to put in a ten bob note and that would get me 4 gallons I think. It had to be a new note and it was laid in a window and the closer pulled across. if the note was creased at all it wouldn't accept it.
 
Hi Skratt,

We have 3 gas rings, basic pots and pans, small fridge. Electric now and again but no electric cooking devices. We shop at least every other day.

Not true that rabbits have no goodness. The meat is just about pure protein so very little fat. The rabbit starvation storey is said to come from hunters selling their best meat and living off the cheap plentiful rabbits. They suffered from malnutrition while living up country in winter and did not last long.

Richard
 
yep, I think that 80% of my meat is from the wild and a lot of that from rabbits and i am 23 stones. Perhaps its the ocassional pigion, starling, blackbird, pheasant, partridge, quail etc that I eat. Had a swan once saw it killed when it hit an overhead pylon cable so it was fresh. wouldn't touch them after they are 2 or 3 hours dead.
Have you tried pike? the best and tastiest fish in the river. loads round here.
 
:)
donkey too said:
yep, I think that 80% of my meat is from the wild and a lot of that from rabbits and i am 23 stones. Perhaps its the ocassional pigion, starling, blackbird, pheasant, partridge, quail etc that I eat. Had a swan once saw it killed when it hit an overhead pylon cable so it was fresh. wouldn't touch them after they are 2 or 3 hours dead.
Have you tried pike? the best and tastiest fish in the river. loads round here.
Click to expand...

Hi Donkey too

Must take a few blackbirds to keep you going.:D How are you cooking them? Whats top of the veg list at present.

Richard
 
stsill some wild asparagras around it is always a lot later than the forced stuff but tastier. If your on the coast then now is the time for sea weed. Most can be eaten. Best veg at the moment is nice young carrots and onions from the corner of a field. Oops I never said that :lol-053:
 
skratt said:
Hello Van People,
Im writing a van cookbook.
I've been a chef for 30 years, working all over the world, mostly lucky enough to cook on private yachts , providing food for rather wealthy people who expected amazing cuisine to appear from my galley with limited space, ingredients and equipment.
I now live in a motorhome and have fulltimed for 5 years. The book was inspired by people who came for dinner on the van and couldn't believe how I did it.
But I need your help ........

I need to know ....

How many gas rings do you have ?
Is there a freezer on your van ?
Do you have access to electricity for blenders, food processors etc ?
How much storage do you have for ingredients, pots, pans etc ?
Would you like to shop most days or do you prefer to stock up ?
How important is healthy fresh food ?
Are your tastes traditional or are you open to new ideas ?

Your input will be most appreciated .

happy travels, Skratt :D
Click to expand...

HI, great idea,
we have 3 gas rings and a small oven/grill
a fridge with small freezer compartment
we stock up on items such as pasta, rice, tins, we shop while out for meat n fresh stuff
we are always open to new ideas and flavours
Not too health conscious if out for weekend or few days as its all about tasty food and having fun, but longer term you have to think low fat.
We don't have much storage, we have one saucepan, one frying pan, could manage one more pan if needed.

Look forward to your book
Lotty
 
Van cooking

Hi excellent idea i fall in to all categories .
In my converted coach I have a full size kitchen with fridge with small freezer and full size hob and oven with separate grill and lots of storage for my pots pans woks and herbs and spices.

I also have a land rover and building a new camp trailer that at the moment only has an ice box, one petrol stove ring with a small box of dried herbs and spices.
 
How many gas rings do you have ?
3 plus a gas oven grill

Is there a freezer on your van ?
Yes, fridge / freezer

Do you have access to electricity for blenders, food processors etc ?
1500w inverter with 300A of battery behind it

How much storage do you have for ingredients, pots, pans etc ?
Not enough

Would you like to shop most days or do you prefer to stock up ?
Stock up

How important is healthy fresh food ?
Anything has got to be better than some of the prepackaged offerings

Are your tastes traditional or are you open to new ideas ?
Open to new ideas

-------
I tend to make a lot of dishes up and freeze them. This gives me a Chicken Curry as a base that I can then alter accordingly by adding more garlic, coriander etc. The same applies to Mince, Beef stew, Lamb stew etc
 
4 rings, grill, oven, 3 pans, fry pan.

Slow cooker. use inverter sometimes for microwave, hand blender. Fridge with freezer compartment.

Small gas BBQ

Apart from lack of prep area, no problem with cooking anything we can do at home, but need to fit extractor as smells can linger.

Cooked bacon the other day for lunch, drove home, 2 days later you could still smell it in the air. Hadn't left the vents open as there was torrential rain (it is summer !)

Tend to buy every couple of days or forage. Blackberry time soon.
 
Two rings and grill, basic pans and wok. Fridge with small freezer compartment.
Find the wok is especially useful. Grill works better with an inverted baking tray (same size as grill pan)used as a stand for the grill pan thus bringing food closer to the heat.
Like to buy fresh when possible, at least every other day due to limited storage space.
Always eat at least as well as when at home if not better.
 
Thank you all for the replies. Most helpfull indeed.
My setup is similar to many of the above. I also have an inverter so can use a hand blender. Im still not sure wether to use recipes that include the use of these. They are so handy, especially if they have chopper attachments too.

After research all over the place the recipes are now based on using ...

2 gas rings
no oven
no grill
A small fridge
Small cupboard space for pots, pans, gadgets and stored food.
A small freezer compartment ( not essential )

and ..... a decent cooks knife ! I was visiting my mother the other day and how she manages to chop vegetables with the tiny blunt things she calls knives, I will never know.
 
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by the way, about a third of the recipes are suitables for vegetarians.

Im thinking on average most people wouldnt mind stocking up on fresh items perhaps every 3 or 4 days.

If youre' open to new flavours and ideas then theres certainly plenty of those. I've not stopped travelling for over 30 years and have worked with so many chefs from all over the world, each with theyre own methods of food preparation and cooking.

So I better stop blabbering now and get on with finishing the book.

cheers, Skratt
 
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We have four gas rings, grill and oven and a fridge. We like to cook curry's stews, etc etc. We carry a lot of basics - rice, cous cous, pasta, etc and buy fresh fruit, veg, salads and meat every couple of days or so. The ice box in the fridge will take a couple of days meat, frozen.
 
hi, we have three burners a grill and oven but can only safely use two burners at once. i have several smallish pans plus frying pan( otherwise known as the pig pan) but sometimes feel a bit like a juggler. always start out with loads of fruit, salad bread and acooked chicken. ideal recipes would be fairly quick and simple. will try most things.
 
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